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Waze, which did $1 million in revenue last year, wants $750 million. Apple, meanwhile, is willing to pay $400 million, plus $100 million in incentive-based compensation, says Butcher. Waze has 30 million users, and has raised $67 million in venture capital.

Waze is a user-generated mapping company. As its users drive around, they provide mapping data. The app has gaming elements to encourage people to drive — you get points for driving to new places, and reporting on things like cops sitting on the side of the road or accidents.

Its data isn't complete for more obscure locations, which means Waze wouldn't be a perfect solution to Apple's mapping problems. But, bringing in the team, along with its database, to clean up Apple Maps would probably be smart.

Apple is already partnered with Waze for Apple maps. It credits Waze with map data for Israel, which is where Waze is based.

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